Katz and Ferreras freeze WPU out of important meeting

Willets Point United (WPU) – the group of property and business owners that for years has advocated for the repair of dilapidated Willets Point streets – is being shut out of a second meeting scheduled for today by Borough President Melinda Katz to discuss that issue, one month after also being excluded from the first meeting. Neither Katz nor City Council member Julissa Ferreras responded at all to multiple letters and email sent by WPU requesting an invitation to the second meeting to discuss the very issue which WPU has championed.

Persons involved in the secret meetings confirmed to WPU that on January 29, 2016, Borough President Katz convened a summit meeting at Borough Hall to discuss the problem of horrendous Willets Point street conditions. That first meeting was also attended by City Council member Julissa Ferreras, Marilyn Bitterman and Eugene Kelty of Queens Community Board 7 (CB7), representatives of the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), and three large Willets Point businesses: Tully Construction, Fodera Foods and House of Spices.

Although WPU was promised that it would receive notice of that meeting so that it could send a representative, no such notice was ever given and WPU was inexplicably excluded from the meeting.

WPU believes that it has certainly earned a seat at the table to discuss Willets Point street conditions, because WPU – not any other entity – has consistently testified at public hearings of CB7 and the Queens Borough Board to request that the city allocate funds to reconstruct Willets Point streets, and has championed that issue for the past several years. As a direct result of WPU’s efforts, CB7 and the Queens Borough Board have included Willets Point street reconstruction in their budget priorities for fiscal years 2015, 2016 and 2017. That no dollars have actually materialized, however, underscores the need for more involvement by responsible officials. CB7 has recently written to the Mayor that the response of NYCDOT is “absolutely ridiculous” – emphasizing the urgent need to set the record straight with NYCDOT concerning circumstances at Willets Point, as WPU is equipped to do.

So, after being frozen out of the January meeting at Borough Hall, when WPU heard of the follow-up meeting scheduled for today, WPU sent letters to Borough President Katz and City Council member Ferreras, requesting that they invite WPU to attend. Those letters were delivered on February 25 and 26 – but WPU received no response whatsoever from Katz or Ferreras.

Yesterday, WPU tried again, by sending a copy of the letter to Katz’s Chief of Staff, Jay Bond, by email. Mr. Bond did not respond at all to WPU.

How do Katz and Ferreras possibly justify totally ignoring important communications from their constituents, concerning meetings everyone knows are important to those constituents? There are WPU property owners who pay $53,000.00 or more in annual property taxes, while receiving virtually NO municipal services in return – and for them, receiving not even the courtesy of a response from their elected representatives is adding insult to injury.

Worst kept secret in Queens is out

From the Daily News:

Incoming Queens Borough President Melinda Katz has tapped an old rival and a trusted aide to work in her administration, the Daily News has learned.

City Councilman Leroy Comrie, a former candidate for borough president, has been named deputy borough president.

Jay Bond, Katz’s policy advisor during her City Council tenure, will serve as her chief of staff when she takes over Borough Hall on Jan. 1.

Both will lead her transition team and help her outfit her staff.

“This campaign was about empowering working families and making life better for every Queens resident,” said Katz.

No, this campaign was about being the County pick and getting yourself on the public dole for the next 4, if not 8, years.